Nine is the Special Number
by Doctor Wheel
Summary: When Pyro receives a letter in the mail, it comes to the surprise to many of the mercs. But it is an even bigger surprise when they learn Pyro has a sister, and she's on a similar but deadlier mercenary team. And to add to the confusion, she convinced her team to visit the Teufort mercs. Rated T for violence and language. STORY IS ABANDONED! READ CHAPTER 6!
1. Prologue: Attackers

**A/N: So here's something new. First three chapters will talk about each merc.**

 **TF2 is owned by Valve, OCs belong to me.**

* * *

I have been running all my life.

What I have been running from, I have no idea. I just know I run. Five foster homes, six orphanages, and two prisons. Away from others, friends, family, no matter what I've ran from them.

I never liked being confined in a closed space. I've always preferred the outdoors, free like a bird.

So how did I end up a cold-hearted mercenary?

One, because I kinda need the money, and two, I get a fucking sweet-ass jetpack.

Yes, you heard me right.

A fucking jetpack.

 **(Third-Person)**

It was a cloudless day in the rural farmlands. Some could say it was peaceful. A cow was off to the side grazing on the grass, while children were playing in a nearby lake.

Then all hell broke lose.

A semi-trailer with two blacks cars, one in front of the truck and one in the back, sped down the dirt road at a very fast speed. Anything that was in the way of this convey had to jump to the side to avoid being run over. No one was paying attention to the convoy very much, except for one person.

A person watching from a thousand feet above sea level.

The person was a female wearing a green pilot jumpsuit, and a helmet with a visor and oxygen mask. She had two fingerless gloves on her hands, and had two pistols attached to her belt.

"Walker, you come in?" came a voice from her radio.

"Gotcha Vet, what's up?" she replied.

"Caught up with the convoy yet?"

"Right below me,"

"You know the plan right? Get in, grab it, and get out. Avoid fighting if at all possible, you're on your own for this mission,"

"Vet, you worry too much. I got this," she said as she started decending.

Vet sighed on the other end. "Just be careful alright?" and ended the call.

Walker landed on the trailer, her jetpack still going so she could stay on it. She took a disk-shaped object from a pocket and placed it on the trailer. It attached itself to the truck and started beeping.

She allowed herself to be blown back as the disc blew up, leaving a small hole on the top of the trailer. She flew in the hole and landed inside the trailer. Inside the trailer were a lot of wooden crates, but Walker paid no attention to any of the crates and walked past each until she came upon a small glass container, inside contained a very expensive-looking computer chip.

Walker grinned to herself as she went over and started to pick up the container, but before she could, she heard a gun cock behind her.

"Who are you?" asked a cold voice.

"Someone you probably wouldn't want to mess with," she replied as she turned. But instead of only finding one man with a gun, she found many men in black suits all with guns pointed at her. "Wow, I only expected one of you," she said. "This is awkward,"

"Answer my question," the man said.

"Let me think about that- no," she drew her pistols and shot the man in the head before flying and landing in another part of the trailer. She took cover behind crates as bullets flew by her.

"This would be easy," she said to herself. "Why didn't he tell me there were PEOPLE inside as well?"

Hearing only the clicks of their guns, Walker activated her jetpack and flew towards the men. She hit the other three in the head before slamming into the fourth, taking him to the wall of the trailer. The man slid down the trailer's wall as Walker got up, still in shock from the impact; she quickly put a bullet in his brain so he would do anything else.

"Now lets get outta here," she said as she grabbed the container and flew out of the truck and disappeared into the sky.

* * *

War is not a game.

War is NOT a game.

I've told that many times to anyone I worked with on the battlefield. I drilled that into their heads so they will not forget it, ever. War is not the dog and pony show you hear about from the papers. No sir, I can guarantee to you one hundred percent that is not true.

I've seen limbs blown off my fellow soldiers.

I've seen faces burned by firebombs.

I'VE SEEN CADETS SHIT THEIR TROUSERS THE MOMENT THEY SEE SHIT HIT THE FAN.

…

There's a difference between a good soldier and a decent soldier. A good soldier will follow commands given to them by their superiors. A decent soldier will do the right thing no matter what the cost is. Here's one thing for certain:

I am a decent soldier.

 **(Third-Person)**

A man runs down a hallway stained with red lights with a LMG with an attached grenade launcher in his hand. He wears a green vest over an orange shirt, with a bulletchain wrapped around his chest as a sash. He has brown pants tucked into black boots, and has an olive green helmet on his head. He ducks into an open doorway and holds his breaths as multiple armed men raced past the room.

He breathes a sigh of relief and reaches into one of his pockets in his vest and takes out a small lollypop, unwraps it and pops it in his mouth. As his heart rate starts to go down, his radio starts up.

"Vet, you there pal?" the voice that emits is almost song-like.

"Yeah Astra, I'm here, need something?" Vet responds.

"Oh thank god you're still alive," she responds. "You haven't answered your radio ever since Aron sent out the call-out,"

"Oops my bad, I've been…busy,"

"Hey there he is!"

"Oh crap, Astra gotta go," he put away his radio before she could answer back and readied his machine gun. "Let her rip,"

Man after man dropped to the floor as the machine gun echoed across the hallway. When the last man fell, Vet stepped into the hallway, face still stoic, and observed the carnage. He was used to this already.

He placed the LMG on his shoulder and started to walk away. But as he did he launched a grenade behind him. This sent waves of yelling as it blew up.

He smirked. Maybe he was too used to it.

* * *

Being almost immortal is not as fun as it seems.

You see your friends slowly wither away, while you stay alive and unchanged for hundreds, no, thousands of years.

I found it hard to make new friends for sometime, because I do not want to see them die out like the flowers at winter.

But when I met the others, I learned to live in the moment and enjoy the little things.

 **(Third-Person)**

It is nighttime over a small town. But, however, this wasn't an ordinary town. Armed masked men wielding powerful weapons roamed the streets of this town. This town was seized by armed militants, and forced many of the townsfolk out. They made it their base of operations, and planned to do…something.

"What do you mean something?" a young woman stood from the outskirts of the town. But she was anything but ordinary. She was orange-skinned and had flames for hair. She wore a yellow colored shirt under a red jacket, and had red shorts. She was also barefoot.

"Eh, the guy didn't really say," said Vet. "But never less, just make sure none of those men are left alive after this ok, and don't go overkill like last time,"

She rolled her brown eyes. "I didn't go overkill Vet, it just so happened that a oil tanker was parked nearby,"

"Yeah, yeah, excuses, excuses, Astra," and the call ended.

Astra sighed as she put away the radio. She spun around, letting a column of fire engulf her. In her place was a bird made of fire.

A phoenix.

The phoenix took flight and headed towards the town. It landed on top of a building; it was then engulfed in flames and turned back into the woman.

She spotted about twenty armed men armed with assault rifles, shotguns, and machine guns.

"Easy pickings," she thought as she jumped down. She landed with a thud, leaving a large crater in the dirt ground. The men turned to the sound, and had their guns guns pointed at the girl on fire.

"Today, I'm feeling generous. So I'll go easy on you guys," she snapped her fingers and an orb of fire appeared above her hand. She grabbed it and threw it at the closest guy. When the orb made contact the man was immediately incinerated.

The others looked in fear as they saw one of their friends turn into ashes.

"Who's next?" she asked as multiple orbs appeared behind her.

* * *

 **A/N: And so concludes the Attackers of the team. Next will be the Defenders.**

 **Till next time,**

 **-D.W**


	2. Prologue: Defenders

**A/N: Ditto.**

* * *

Gunpower. A simple chemical element that explodes quite violently when a single spark touches it, and is made of a simple combination of sulfur, charcoal and saltpeter.

When used correctly, you can rain on anyone's parade. But when not, well, consider yourself dead.

Unfortunately such uses of this this explosive substance is now outdated. A better substance known as sodium chlorate now replaces it. Each of these substances has its advantages and disadvantages, but for me, I do not give a rat's ass what I use.

If it blows, I'll take it. A stick of dynamite is just as dangerous as an atomic bomb; no matter how "primitive" you say it might be, it will still blow your face off, as well as your entire body.

 **(Third-Person)**

Explosions.

Lots of them.

A normally quiet morning in the city is soon broken by the detonation of multiple pipe bombs falling from the back of a semi-trailer. The trailer's door is wide open and shows a man with wild black hair. He's dressed in a simple blue shirt and gray shorts with sneakers with a backpack on his back. He would look like an average person, that is, until you see the grenade launcher in his left hand.

The police cars that were following the truck soon disappeared in the cloud of dark smoke. The man laughed.

"Happy Hanukkah!" he said.

"Ace," said Walker as she walked next to him. "You did really have to blow them up? Vet could've lost them at the on ramp,"

"Yes, it had to be done," he said. "It was the perfect scene, cars huddled together in a narrow hallway, it was a only a matter of time until it went boom,"

A bullet soared past his head and pinged on the wall of the truck.

"No way," he said as multiple armored police vans suddenly appeared behind the truck.

The two's radios crackled to life.

"Goddam it Ace," Vet said through the radio. "You pissed them off, you had to blow the cars up did you?"

"Eh, sorry," Ace said as a grenade exploded a van.

Vet sighed.

"Get them off our tail,"

"Wait I thought you could lose them?"

"Can't anymore, they blocked off exits with those vans. It would kill the truck if we tried smashing through,"

The radios fizzled out as the two saw more vans appear from side streets.

"I would start shooting if I were you," said Walker as she flew out of the trailer.

"For fuck's sake," he said as he readied the grenade launcher.

* * *

First things first, I am not fat. I'm just big-boned.

While it may seem to be… ah fuck it. I just weigh slightly more than what I'm supposed to ok?

Jeez.

Others who "disagreed" on how I looked have called me… names. Before I would simply curl up in a ball and cry like there's no tomorrow.

Now, well, it involves my two fists.

Heh.

Who knew fat can hide muscle so well?

 **(Third-Person)**

"Ten bucks she makes it through," said Walker.

"I don't gamble, Walker," said Astra.

The two were standing beside a concrete wall outside a prison. They needed to get inside so they could rescue their buyer's son. They couldn't use explosives or fly over the wall or else it would alert the guards.

That is when the third person in their group got an idea.

A simple, but stupid idea.

"INCOMING!"

A large object flew into the wall and left a large hole leading inside the prison.

"Hm, so it seems that it worked," said Astra as she stepped over the scatted pieces of concrete.

"That was so AWESOME!" said a voice beneath the concrete.

"Not to mention very dumb, Hanna,"

"Hey like you had a better idea," said Hanna as she emerged from the rubble. She was quite tall, and also, to put it nicely, a bit on the heavier side. Her golden-brown hair was in a simple ponytail. She wore a dark blue shirt under an unzipped black jacket, and had black pants and combat boots. "Hey Walker, can you bring my gun for me?" she asked as she dusted off her jacket.

Leaning against the wall looked to be one half of an anti-aircraft gun, modified to be portable. It had two long barrels attached to a large metal box with two handles.

"You're kidding right?"

Hanna cocked her eyebrow at the response before mentally slapping herself.

"Oh right," she went over and hefted the gun effortlessly off the ground. "Forgot this thing is really heavy,"

Just then a siren went off inside the prison, and a spotlight shined on the girls.

"Welp, so much for being stealthy," said Walker as she got out her pistols.

"You got that right," said Hanna as they ran inside the prison.

* * *

A fighter.

That would be the last thing someone would think of me.

I look anything but a fighter.

A scientist.

An engineer.

A nerd.

I've heard it all in my lifetime, but the most common thing one forgets about an easy target is it's still no matter how weak it is.

 **(Third-person)**

"Aron, where are they coming from?" said Vet as he looked around a corner, machine gun ready. Next to him was a shorter man wearing a blue construction helmet, a bulletproof vest over a bright blue shirt, khaki shorts, and work boots. He was looking at a something on a small-phone like object, which he held in one hand, while a small crossbow was in another.

"Ah, coming right down this hallway," he replied.

"Got it," Vet said as a grenade was launched down the hallway. The screams of agony were heard as it went off.

The two men raced down the hallway, now covered in blood, bodies, and limbs, and into a large room. As they did they saw multiple armed men waiting for them, they quickly dashed behind some steel tables and took cover.

Vet peeked up when the firing stopped to only have a bullet ping off his helmet. He quickly ducked down.

"Drone them," he said.

"What?" Aron asked back.

"What do you mean what?"

"Its too dangerous," said Aron, pointing to the piles of missiles behind the men.

"Then aim good," Vet said. "We're going to die either way,"

"Fine," he said as he pulled out the device again.

Outside, a small silver colored drone hovered off the ground with its two propellers that were attached to its sides; under it was a small minigun. The drone flew through an open window and into the room the two were in. Its red eye scoped the scene before spinning up the minigun.

The men only had time to turn before the barrage of bullets turned them into Swiss cheese.

The two men emerged from their hiding spots and observed the carnage.

"Game over," Aron said as he put the device away.

* * *

 **A/N: One more prologue chapter then we can start...god.**

 **-D.W**


	3. Prologue: Supporters

**A/N: Ditto.**

* * *

It is strange to think a person who once kills for a living would become someone who now saves lives.

My past was rather…turbulent, and to make ends meet certain things had to be done in order for the sake of my family and myself.

Luckily my current profession isn't as grizzly as before, but sometimes to save a life, another must be taken.

 **(Third-Person)**

"Hold on there partner, we're going to get you all patched up," said Hanna as she dragged Ace away from the chaos. Ace inadvertently had taken several bullets to the chest when a malfunctioning drone started to spray bullets everywhere.

"Easy for you to say…" said Ace as he gripped his bleeding wounds with his hand, blood squirting out between his fingers.

"Ace again, what did he do this time?" said a woman who approached the two. Her black hair was tied up in a bun. She wore a white long sleeved shirt under a black bulletproof vest, and black pants which were tucked into black boots. She wore a harness with a pistol holster on one side and a magazine pouch on the right.

"This time it wasn't his fault Kelly," said Hanna. "One of Aron's drone blew a fuse in the range,"

The team all were ejected with nanonites, made by Kelly, that would repair any damage that may befall any of the members, thus almost eliminating the need for a medic, but every now and then the nanonites would malfunction, so a doctor on hand was necessary.

"Guess you were hit with EMP bullets Ace," said Kelly as she looked over his wounds. "Cause you would have been patched up by now,"

"Can we talk about what's wrong with me after we get to the Med-Bay?" said Ace. "Cause I don't think I'm supposed to be losing this much blood,"

"Oh sorry," Kelly said as she noticed the sizable pool of blood forming under Ace. "Hopefully, you weren't hit in the liver again, those things are expensive to buy,"

Hanna and Ace's eyes widened when they heard this.

"WHAT!"

"Did I say buy? I meant make…" she said as she corrected herself before heading down the hallway.

The two looked at each other with nervous looks, Kelly didn't really buy organs to use right?

* * *

Killing is an art.

Everything must fall into a perfect alignment in order to work in your favor.

To do the most damage, a bullet must hit a precise area of the cranium so that it enters without losing velocity, thus creating a large amount of trauma to the head.

Likewise, a sword has to be swift when cutting. A sloppy swing will not even slice a piece of paper.

As a sniper I prefer to keep my distance. But every now and then I would like an occasional brawl.

So en garde!

 **(Third-Person)**

Chaos.

Outside a court hall, a notorious mobster has just been shot in the head. He was to go on trial for the numerous crimes he committed.

Now he lies on the ground, dead as a doorknob.

About one thousand yards away on top of an apartment on the concrete wall, lay a smoking barrel of a hunting rifle propped up by a metal stand. Behind it is the sniper who just killed the man. He seems to be an older man, with graying hair. He wears a beige colored safari outfit, and has a curly gray mustache. He also has a safari hat on his head. On his belt, has a sabre inside its sheath. He looks out of the scope before pulling out a radio.

"Tony Hearth is dead," he says into it. "I thought you were giving me a challenge Aron,"

"It was a challenge, Marcus," replied Aron. "High winds, coupled with the multiple civilians as well as the police protection, would turn away any assassin,"

"Not this one good fellow," said Marcus as he got up from his kneeling position. "Where is the rendezvous point?"

"About a mile outside the city," said Aron. "I would pick you up where you are, but with the police swarming around it will be very hard,"

"I see, well in that ca-" suddenly a shot rang out and missed Marcus by an inch. "Shit!" he said as he hit the deck.

"Marcus, what was that?" Aron asked worryingly.

"It seems that the snipers had found me already, I'll meet you at the pickup," Marcus said as she crawled over to his rifle. He got into position and started scanning for the snipers.

Finding each sniper was easy for Marcus, as every single one of them had a bright red laser sight. He effortlessly picked of each sniper one by one, a shell dropping to the floor every time a shot was fired.

After five minutes of shooting between him and the snipers, there was an eerie silence. He made sure there were no more snipers before getting up; missing a sniper is a good way to get killed after a sniper battle.

"Good day," he said as he turned around and headed for the door.

* * *

When people first see me, they think I'm a man.

I'm not.

The bulky jumpsuit I wear just makes me look like a man.

Does it bother me?

No, not really anymore.

What bothers me is when people tell me to stop doing a man's job.

I don't freak out when they tell me this; instead I give them a present.

A knife.

And I give it to them by shooting it at them.

 **(Third-Person)**

A figure in a black, full body, armored jumpsuit, hops from one rooftop to another with ease. On its chest is a sash with four grenades. The figure also has night vision goggles and a partial gas mask on.

The figure peers over the ledge of the rooftop and jumps down. It lands softly on the gravel ground and creeps slowly in the darkness. It comes across a man wearing a suit who looks to be guarding the front of a house. The figure pulls out a pistol and shoots the man with it using a three-round burst.

The man slumps to the ground as the figure approaches the front door and opens it. Inside the house, are three rooms, one has the sound of laughter behind a closed door, another is dark and quiet, while the last sounds to be only one person is in there.

The figure approaches the third room to find a man in a lab coat working on something. On the table has multiple mechanical parts, and wires. Plans for robots are scattered around the room and on the floor. The figure approaches the man and sticks the gun to the back of his head. He stops working.

"So they finally found me," he said calmly. "What did they have to pay you? Fifty grand?"

"Not even close," the figure said, its voice slightly muffed by the gas mask.

"Those bastards, always after my inventions, and willing to do anything to get their greedy hands on them," while the man continued to rant the headpiece the figure had one came to life.

"A talker huh?" asked Aron. "I've already hacked and downloaded the plans already, so feel free to do whatever you want to do to him Joan,"

"Got it," Joan said as she put away her pistol and grabbed a mug off a table.

"Are you listening to-" the man never got to finish as a mug came across his skull.

* * *

 **A/N: It's done! Holy carp it is FINALLY DONE! The first chapter should be up either tonight or tomorrow. I'm pushing for tonight however.**

 **Till next time,**

 **-D.W**


	4. Ch 1 Rough Start

**A/N: Ditto. Thanks to Bayoboo and archaicStargazer for following and favoriting.**

* * *

Letters.

One of the few things that connected the mercs to the outside world, but most importantly to their families.

Ms. Pauling was currently passing out letters to the RED mercs. Usually the same people got letters, Scout, Sniper, Heavy, Demo, and Engineer, as well as the occasional one for Medic and Spy.

But that would change today, as the most unlikely merc was about to get a letter.

"Ok here's the mail," she passed out each letter that was addressed to each merc. "One for Scout, one for Heavy, one for Demo, Sniper, Engineer, and I think we have one more,"

Pauling reached for the last letter but as she read to whom it was addressed to her eyes arched in confusion. She did a double take to make sure she was reading it right.

"Pauling you've been looking at that letter for sometime now," said Engi. "You ok?"

"Ten bucks it's for Spy," said Scout. "Probably another sappy love letter from his dates,"

Spy rolled his eyes while Sniper stifled a laugh.

"It's not for Spy, Scout," she said.

"Soldier?"

"No…Pyro,"

Everyone in the room went silent.

"Murmp mwe?" Pyro asked as he looked up from his drawing.

"Your pulling our leg, right Pauling?" asked Scout. "Who would want to write to Pyro?"

"Family?" suggested Sniper. "Like how we get letters from them,"

"Yeah, but does he even have a family?"

"I don't know about Pyro's family Scout, but I'm not pulling your leg," she said as she turned the envelope around, on the front was Pyro's name written in perfect cursive. "Here Pyro," she said as she tossed the letter to him.

Pyro caught the envelope and opened it, humming to the tune of "Do You Believe in Magic" as he did. He took out the letter that was inside it and started to read it. After a while, he dropped the letter and got up, and started to skip away to somewhere else.

Engi got up from his seat and walked over to Pyro's letter, he picked it up and started to read out loud what it said.

 _Dear little bro,_

 _First of all, I'm sorry if I never wrote to you for the past two years. I've never had the time to sit down and write, after all, being part of one of the deadliest mercenary teams in existence doesn't allow you to take any time off._

 _Besides that, I'm quite excited to meet your mercenary team. I've read all of your letters about each member, and, to be honest, they seem to be almost like mine! Anyways, I'm not coming alone; I've somehow convinced my team to come to visit yours!_

 _How cool is that?_

 _We should arrive sometime after our team gets back from Europe, why? Wish I could tell you but it's confidential._

 _With hugs and kisses,_

 _-Joan_

It took a while for the mercs to take it all in.

"Pyro has a sister?" asked Scout. "And she's also in the mercenary business? Geez what else are we going to learn about Mumbles?"

"Oh wait there's more," said Engi. "P.S: If Scout calls you Mumbles when I'm there, consider him dead,"

"…"

"Ms. Pauling have you ever heard this team that Joan mentions?" asked Spy. "Because I have never heard of a team similar to ours,"

"Yes, once," she responded. "The team is called Strike Force, or S.F for short. And Joan isn't lying when she said they are one of the deadliest mercenary teams in existence,"

"What do they do?" asked Engi.

"Well, they take really high-risk jobs, such as blowing up an oil platforms, breaking out prisoners in maximum security prisons, killing high-profile persons, etc. And they have yet to fail a job yet,"

"That doesn't sound so bad," said Sniper.

"That's only their jobs, Sniper,"

"So what makes them dangerous?" asked Scout.

"Well first off, they don't use codenames like you guys do, they use their real names to identify themselves,"

"What does that mean?"

"It means that they are not afraid to face people who want them dead," replied Spy.

"You got that right Frenchie," said a voice behind the mercs.

The nine people quickly turned to find a group of eight people standing behind them.

"Um, how long have you've been standing there?" asked Ms. Pauling.

A man with an olive green helmet, who must've talked, pulled out a small pocket watch. "I'd say about ten minutes," he said as he put the watch away and pulled out a lollypop. "I'm assuming you're the mercs that Joan's been talking about right?"

 **Meanwhile**

Pyro was currently in his room playing with a lighter. He didn't like talking to others about his personal life, and he would usually hide away whenever it comes up. It wasn't because he didn't like talking about it; it was just awkward to talk about it.

He flicked the lighter on and off, watching the flame go on and off.

"You really like fire don't you?" said a muffed voice.

Pyro turned to find a black-clad figure wearing night vision goggles and a gas mask standing next to him.

"Sup, bro,"

What could be described next was a loving scene when the brother and sister hugged. The scene would be even more adorable if there wasn't a loud crash that ruined it.

"Maybe I should've stayed with the team so nothing bad happens," Joan said. She turned to find Pyro playing with a large plush unicorn, already losing interest in what was happening. "And how could I forget you have the attention span of a three year old?"

She snapped her fingers and got Pyro's attention once again. "Lets go and make sure they don't kill each other yet ok?"

Pyro nodded, and hopped off his bed.

The two hurried out of his bedroom and into the living room where the other mercs were in. What the two found was Scout imbedded into a wall on one side of the living room, and on the other side everyone was trying to hold back a certain large and angry female.

"Let me at him!" she screamed. "I'll make him eat his own heart!"

Joan sighed before turning to a man with a blue construction hat that was simply watching the action on the side.

"Guy in the wall called Hanna fat, right Aron?" she asked.

"Yup," Aron replied. "He and his big mouth,"

"Well at least we have someone we can relate to,"

"Oh yeah,"

"Oh! Aron this is my lil' bro, he's the Pyro on this team," she said pointing to the arsonist.

Pyro's immediate response was to hug the S.F Engineer.

"Is he always like this?"

Joan shrugged. "Would you rather have him burn you?"

"Ok then, I'll take the hug,"

 **Time Skip**

After Joan was able to calm Hanna and also extract the loudmouth from the wall. Both sides were able to properly introduce each other.

"Scout, you should probably say sorry to Hanna," said Medic.

"ME? She's the one who threw me into a wall!" he replied. "She should apologize to me,"

"You're the one who angered her in the first place, so be a man and own up to it," said Vet as he flicked the lolly around in his mouth.

"Fine, sorry,"

"I don't think she heard you,"

"Why? I said it loud enough,"

"I doubt she could hear you over her eating,"

Vet used his thumb to point to Hanna who was scarfing down a third box of frosted cereal.

"And she's the one who is self conscious about her weight," said Astra as she pinched her nose.

"So what exactly are you?" Engi asked Astra.

"A phoenix," she responded.

"But aren't they…"

"Yes, supposed to be myths, but they do exist, at least, used to exist," she sighed before continuing. "Magical creatures such as unicorns, phoenixes, griffiths, pegasi, all used to exist in the world, but they were hunted down to almost the point of extinction. Those who survived the massacre hid away and soon they were forgotten by time,"

"Why did we do such things?"

"Medicine," she answered. "The tears of a phoenix is said to cure any wound, the blood of a unicorn can bring someone away from death…" she trailed off.

"Sorry if I may have brought any bad memories up,"

"Don't be, times were different back then. Now its different,"

"I'm surprised you're not related to Mumb-" before he could finish, Scout was suddenly tackled out of his chair by Joan, and put a knife to his neck.

"I thought I told you never to call him that in front of me," she hissed through the mask.

Scout gulped. He'd forgotten about the warning Joan gave in her letter.

"Mwmpmrpwmrpmw!" Pyro said while shaking his sister.

Joan growled. She took the blade away from Scout's neck.

"You're lucky he doesn't want you dead," her voice dripping in venom. "Next time, it's personal,"

She got up from Scout before a poof a smoke appeared around her, as it cleared she was gone.

"Nice job," said Kelly as she clapped slowly. "You managed to get on the bad side on two members of team already and it's been only an hour. I think that's a new record, beating Ace,"

"Shut up," said Ace.

* * *

 **A/N: Wanted to get it up but couldn't, had stuff to do. Anyways it's here!**

 **Review Question: Which merc do you like so far?**

 **Till next time,**

 **-D.W**


	5. Ch 2 Downtime

**A/N: Ditto.**

* * *

"What's her problem?" Scout asked as he got up.

"Joan is…well, overprotective as I would say," said Marcus.

"I kinda get that, but why?"

Marcus looked to see if Pyro was around before lowering his voice. "Lad, you're probably wondering who's their parents,"

Scout nodded.

"Well, they have none," he said bluntly. "The two survived off scraps, and with Joan being the older one naturally she's protective of the young Pyro,"

"What happened to their parents?" asked Engineer.

"We don't know," said Vet. "After we learned about it, Aron decided to look into it, sadly…"

"The results were inconclusive, I couldn't find anyone dead or alive that would fit as those two's parents,"

The mercs sat in silence; the only sound was Hanna's loud eating.

"Is she always eating?" Ms. Pauling whispered to Kelly.

"Yes…she usually eats this much if, one, she's extremely hungry or, two, she's upset about something," Kelly replied. "Right now I think she's upset about something,"

"How can you tell?"

"That's her twelfth box of that coma-inducing cereal. Normally she'll only have five,"

"Coma-inducing?"

"That cereal was banned in several countries, including here, because it contains at least three hundred grams of sugar. I'm surprised she doesn't have cavities or diabetes,"

"Hanna, you ok?" asked Walker. "You're doing that eating thing again,"

"Eating what now?" said Hanna as she paused eating.

"You're eating like no tomorrow, girl," said Astra. "Something bothering you?"

"Uh…no, just hungry,"

"You're terrible at lying you know that," said Walker. "You ate an entire turkey before we got here,"

"I know…" she sighed as she dusted the sugar off her shirt. "I dunno, bad memories and shit like that…dickheads,"

"Walker," said Vet after a period of silence. "Go and find Joan,"

Walker nodded and flew out an open window.

"Say, why don't we hold a little friendly competition while we wait for those two?" he said as he got up.

"What kind of competition?" asked Demo.

"You'll see," Vet said as he smirked.

 **Time Skip**

"I WILL SHOW YOU FIGHTING YOU SOLDIER WANNABEE!" Soldier shouted.

What Vet had in mind was a simple fistfight between the RED mercs and the S.F mercs, first up was the two Soldiers.

"FOR AMERICA!" Soldier charged Vet and hurled a fist.

Vet easily sidestepped the punch before countering with a right hook. Soldier staggered a bit before spitting on the ground. He didn't get time to recover as Vet sailed towards him and landed blow after blow on the patriot. He finished the blows with an uppercut that sent Soldier flying back a couple of feet and landed on his back.

"I see stars and-" was all Soldier could say before passing out.

"Hmph," Vet said as he popped a lolly into his mouth and walked over to the others.

* * *

 **Demo vs. Ace**

"Oh it feels like every bone in me body is broke," Demo said as he lay on the ground.

"Dude, we never started yet," said Ace. "You just tripped over that rock,"

"I'm gonna be all over ya like shingles…" Demo said in a slur. "…I'm going with your tickets, heh, heh,"

"You're not going to fight are you?"

Demo replied only with the sound of snoring.

* * *

 **Heavy vs. Hanna**

"Ok big guy, lets see what you got," Hanna said. She had taken off her black jacket.

"Da, we fight like men," said Heavy.

Before Heavy could even move, Hanna somehow was able to close the distance between them almost instantly. For a girl her size, she could really move. She tucked into a diving roll and launched herself feet first into the Russian's chest. The impact briefly stunned Heavy and caused him to gasp for air.

"Surprised?" she said cracking her knuckles. "Don't be, most people don't get up after I do that,"

"Little girl strong,"

"I get that a lot, thanks,"

"EEYYAAAA!" Heavy yelled as he charged toward Hanna and threw a punch at her.

Hanna responded with her own fist, and the two hands collided, creating a loud boom.

Heavy took a second to process what just happened, but never was able to when Hanna easily picked up the larger man and did a superflex on the Russian. She got up and looked at Heavy, who was embedded in the ground, headfirst.

* * *

"I don't think it's a good idea to do this," said Medic nervously. The others wanted him to go against Kelly, but the German was refusing to do so.

"Doctor, doctor, doctor," said Scout. "Are we scared to go up against a girl?" he mocked.

"Yes!" Medic replied. "Look at her!"

Kelly was patiently waiting some feet away; playing with some scalpels she had on hand. Medic swore he saw one of her eyes glow red when she glanced at him.

"You're a madman who somehow made someone lose their skeleton, now stop being a wuss," Scout said as he pushed Medic into the ring.

"I think Medic should stay out this one Scout," said Vet.

"Why?"

"Before Kelly was a doctor she was an assassin, a very good assassin,"

"…"

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Medic screamed. "WHAT IS HAPPENING?"

Kelly never answered as she walked away from the ring. Scout and Vet saw she somehow made Medic into a knot.

"I think, I just crapped myself," said Scout.

 **Meanwhile**

Walker flew along the desert terrain in search of their Spy. Even though it seemed easy, since Joan only wore black, and the terrain was bright orange, the distance she could've traveled was great and she could be anywhere.

But as luck would've had it, Walker was able to spot Joan sitting on a rock in the middle of nowhere. She landed, and flipped up the black visor, showing her brown eyes.

"You really have to stop doing that Joan," Walker said as she approached the Spy. "Teleportation is dangerous when you don't know where you're going,"

"I know Walker," she responded. "I just needed to distance myself from that loud mouth, couldn't stand his bigotry,"

"You tolerate Ace's loud mouth, why can't you do that same for Scout?"

Joan was silent for a moment before she said,

"It's because Ace never made fun of Pyro,"

"Overprotective much, huh?"

"You could say that. I know Pyro could go ham on Scout anytime, but there's a feeling I just can't shake because of him,"

Walker was about to say something, but then five large heavily armed helicopters flew over them.

"Uh oh," said Joan. "Walker which way was RED HQ?"

"Aren't you supposed to know that?"

Walker received a glare from Joan telling her that wasn't the correct answer.

"Um, it where those helicopters are going,"

"Shit, looks like we mercs never take a break," Joan said with a sigh as she disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Touché" said Walker as she flipped down her visor and flew after the helicopters.

"An arm isn't supposed to bend like that," said Vet as he observed Heavy and Hanna trying to untangle Medic.

"Of course its not dummkopf," Medic grumbled. "It's over under not under over,"

"Kelly would you be so kind and help untangle Medic?" asked Hanna.

"I advise everyone to look away," she said as she took hold of a leg. "Cause this is going to be painful.

CRACK!

CRICK!

CRACK!

After a series of painful cracking, Medic was out of his knot form and also was slightly delusional.

"I-I-can't feel my toes…"

"Vet!"

Everyone turned to find Joan hurrying over to the group.

"Oh Joan," he said. "You're back now-"

"No time, armed helies coming this way,"

"Marcus?"

"I can verify that," the Sniper said as he glazed into the distance with his hunting rifle. "Five heavily armed helicopters heading this way,"

"If I may ask, who are these people headed this way?" Spy said.

"The Scorpions," replied Vet. "And to put it nicely, we are not exactly on good terms with them,"

* * *

 **A/N: And there we go chapter two.**

 **Till next time,**

 **-D.W**


	6. Important Update: End of the Story

**Doctor Wheel here with some unfortunate news... I am ending the Nine is a Special Number story.**

 **Why?**

 **'sighs' Well, honestly, I hate the idea.**

 **Yes you heard that right- I HATE MY OWN STORY.**

 **It feels too cliché and too similar to the others I've written. And it wouldn't be a good story if I continued to write on it with my current mindset.**

 **BUT! (I didn't ask you to leave, goddammit!)**

 **I'm writing another story to replace it, and it WILL have elements from NiaSN. (So you Astra fans don't worry, she'll be in it.)**

 **I won't take the story down, but nothing else would be posted to it from this point on.**

 **Sorry to disappoint anyone out there, (insert extra sad faces, and tears)**

 **-D.W**


End file.
